Problem solving

As a student you are likely to be involved with a wide range of activities on campus, at work, in your home and with your friends. At times during these activities challenges or problems will arise. Often you would resolve these automatically, however sometimes you may experience a significant problem which you find difficult to solve as quickly or as automatically as you may under other circumstances.

The aim of this resource is to assist you to develop the skills you need to become an effective problem solver when facing challenging or difficult situations.

What is problem solving?

Problem solving is a process and skill that you develop over time to be used when needing to solve immediate problems in order to achieve a goal.

As the owner of your own business you deal with problems on an almost daily basis. Be familiar with effective techniques for problem solving can dramatically affect the growth of your business. Despite finding solutions to their problems, many businessmen and women are not really experts in the methods of solving problems, and when the solutions do not, they are blamed for misjudgment. The problem is usually not trial error but rather a lack of skill.

This guide explains some troubleshooting techniques. Crucial to the success of a business deal with the problems is your understanding of what the problems, defining them, the search for solutions, and the selection of the best solutions to situations. This guide explains the following.

* How to identify a problem.
* How to respond to it.
* The different techniques and methods used in solving problems.
* How to find alternative solutions.
* How to choose the best solution for the situation.
* Design a Plan of Action.
* How to implement the Plan of Action.
* How to evaluate the success of the solution and the Plan of Action.

“The best years of his life are those in which you decide your problems are their own bosses. Do not blame her mother, the ecology or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.”
Albert Ellis

“Problems are to the mind what exercise is to the muscles, they toughen and make strong.”
Norman Vincent Peale

“Every problem has a gift for you in your hands.”
Richard Bach

Do you have a problem in your life right now?

If so, maybe these six quick tips can help you solve a little easier.

1. First, ask yourself: Is there really a problem?

Often created problems in our own heads – as I said a bit a few days things can be easier than you think – they are not out there in reality. So relax a little. And to think if this is really a big problem.

Is it something that matters in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks? Life becomes so less stressful when you stop making mounds mountain (or just nothing).

2. Accept it.

By accepting that the problem exists and stop resisting then also fail to put more energy into the problem and “feed.”

Now there’s only (well, more or less, you can still feel a bit down about it). You can use the energy that has fueled the problem – the energy that probably made the problem seem bigger than it was – to find creative solutions to the challenge.

3. Ask for help.

You can ask people for advice on what to do and what they did in similar situations. But you can also ask for more practical help. You do not have to solve all the problems on their own and sometimes it feels better to have someone by your side, even if only for emotional support.

If you just ask people may often be willing to help.

4. Use 80 percent of their time to find solutions.

And only 20 percent, to complain, worry and complain. You can not always be easy, but focusing your energy, time and thoughts in this way is much better for you and others to do the opposite.

5. Divide the problem into smaller parts.

Solve a problem that can sometimes seem overwhelming and impossible. To reduce anxiety and think more clearly the problem of breaking down. Identify the different parts that compose it. Then to find a practical solution that can take for each of the parties. Use the solutions.

They can not solve the problem immediately. But these solutions can start and could solve some parts of it.

6. Find the opportunity and / or lesson in the problem.

I found there is almost always a positive side to a problem. We may alert a great way to improve our business relationships. O teach us how our lives are perhaps not as bad as we thought.

Find the most positive part of the problem is reducing its negative emotional impact. You can even start to see the situation as a great opportunity for you.

When you are faced with a problem, ask yourself:

What’s good about this?
What I can learn from this?
What I can find hidden opportunities within this problem?

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Written by: Martin Winkler
First version: July 22, 2008. Last reviewed: 24 Aug 2008.
How I can learn to solve my problems? What troubleshooting techniques do you recommend? Dscribe a systematic approach to solving problems.
Answer:
One of the most effective strategies to improve the quality of life of a client is a systematic approach to problem solving

At the beginning of any psychotherapy, clients often expect the therapist to find the answer to all possible problems in life. However, in the course of therapy clients learn to find their own solutions to their problems. He or she must use previous experiences in life and adapt the strategies used to find appropriate solutions in a structured and systematic problem-solving strategies.

It is always a useful approach for thinking about success strategies for the problems in the past. Prepare to adapt the techniques useful for solving problems with new developments!

Here is one of many possible models for solving problems.

1. Identifying the problem What is my concern?
2. Defining objectives What I want to achieve or change?
3. Brainstorming What I can do?
4. What consequences could happen?
5. How do I make decisions?
6. Application Do it!
7. Evaluation Did it work?

These seven simple steps can be applied to almost all kinds of problems in life. Let’s get into details with a problem in one of my clients:

Daniel is a patient of 52 years with depression and panic attacks. One of the main problems was leaving home to go for a walk or consult your doctor or therapist.(more…)

A very useful thing to do is make a list of problems that you think need to be resolved. Next, decide in each case … actually is your problem, or is some other problem.

This is known as the problem of reduction.

Using the problem of reduction decreases the number of solutions you need.

For the remaining problems, consider at least two solutions altertaive.

For example, if your problem is the cost of living than their income, there are two obvious solutions …. increase revenue or decrease your cost of living.

At this point, make a list of alternative solutions for each solution.

For example, to the “increased income” solution, you could:

(A) Get a better job

(B) to rob a bank

(C) Start an internet company

(D) Buy a lottery ticket

(E) Get a second job

You should try to arrive at least 10 possible solutions.

Next, assess the likelihood of success for each solution. For example, winning the lottery is about 1 in 20 million chance. Low probability. Robbing a bank is likely to land in jail. Eventually may run out of solutions with high probability, which means that anyone adding some of the solutions to the list, or go to the other category … reduce the cost of living.

In this category you can reach at least ten ways to reduce spending. But then, considering the likelihood of success of each. How many times have you disconnected your cable service to save money, only when restoring the good fight of the day, on HBO?

The problem with the problem here is that eventually some bank will send a credit card, and you will solve your problem by running up more debt.

That was resolved when another bank sends you a new credit card, so you can “balance transfer” card debt old to new.

One could, of course, go bankrupt, which is the way to the United States to start over, that the banks want to make it more difficult to do since everyone is using their credit cards to solve the problem of income is not sufficient to cover expenses.

Imagine arriving on the eve of a credit card rather than an apple.

CONCLUSION

The ability to identify and solve problems started with a monkey falling limb. What we have achieved over 2 million years of evolution in problem solving is to invent new members to fall.